With rain in the forecast for the CIF Southern Section Cross Country Championships on Saturday, administrators decided to revise the course map at Mt. San Antonio College with runners’ safety in mind.
What was previously a hilly dirt course was now mainly flat and on concrete.
That didn’t matter for San Marino junior Kayla Giddings, who was making her second straight appearance at the CIF championships.
Giddings clocked in a personal-best in the Division IV race, finishing in 18 minutes, 4.7 seconds in 22nd on the 3-mile course.
“It’s what I was expecting,” Giddings said. “I beat a few girls that I look up to as runners and that always beat me, so that made me feel really good — just knowing that I had the power to beat girls who normally run minutes faster than me in normal races.”
The Titans junior was the only San Marino cross-country team member to qualify for the finals following a third-place finish in 19:21.6 in her heat of the CIF prelims.
“As an individual, it’s definitely harder, but I’m happy how I did,” Giddings said.
“It’s tough because, when you’re on the sideline, all these teams gather around you and do their cheers. I’m just standing there and I warm up alone, I cool down alone. It’s a little lonely, but all these girls are so nice to me. They say ‘congratulations’ and ‘good luck.’ It’s a very friendly sport, which I love, but it’s really tough, especially qualifying for races like these.”
With the course change and running solo, San Marino cross-country coach Susie Lozick said the entire team helped Giddings prepare for the finals.
“I know it’s really hard to train by yourself and when you’re competing by yourself,” Lozick said. “She trains with our boys team. When we practice, we have kids run based on skill, not based on gender, so she runs with the faster boys and with different people. We had some of our varsity boys come out and run and work with her on the track, and I go with her on the easy days, so she has a whole support system there.”
Added Lozick: “This course was geared more toward track specialists, but we told her to go out hard and hang on to girls that we know that run at her pace so she can push it. She definitely did.”
JSerra, the top-ranked team in the nation, won its third consecutive team title, scoring 31 points, and placing four runners in the top 10 finishers. Oaks Christian senior Payton Godsey was the individual winner, securing her third straight crown in 16:12.7.
First published in the Nov. 23 issue of the San Marino Tribune
